Monday, February 22, 2010

For February, I decided I really needed some warmer pajama bottoms, so that is what I made. Pajama bottoms are a great project for beginners, as well as, an easy gift to make for others--so no excuses, anyone can make some!

For this one I used Butterick 4038 for my pattern. I made view F, the full length pant in a size S with adjustments for length. (Eventually, I'll go back and make the hooded top.) I used some leftover fabric from the backing of a denim quilt I made my brother one year for his birthday. It was from a plush minkie fleece blanket I found on sale at the local Fred Meyer store, queen size. So, after the quilt there were these fairly narrow strips of fabric leftover, just the right size for the pattern pieces. The plush fabric is a burgandy color and much thicker than the cuddle minkie you'll find at stores like JoAnns, so I'm quite pleased at the snugglly factor in these jammies. (Seriously, its like walking around in a cuddly blanket--I may never wear jeans again.)

Nice, right? (I went outside for photos as it is currently nice and sunny out there, but it does make the pjs appear more reddish than they really are--that or my camera's on the fritz again.)

I serged all the main seams and the edges at the waist and hem (the later to finish off the fabric edge and stop it from shedding all the little red fluffy bits). I also made a small stitch in the seam with embroidery floss to mark the front. While I was sewing I marked the front pieces with a pin to keep them straight from the back pieces which look almost the same. This makes it much easier once you start attaching fronts to backs and sewing the crotch seam at which point it is so easy to end up with a very messed up project (which is always frustrating, but especially so on such an easy pattern).

This pattern has an elastic waistband instead of a drawstring. One word of caution about the pattern. It tells you to take the measurement of your waist and add an inch for the amount of elastic. Ah, hello? Elastic stretches, you don't want it larger than you already are or it won't hold the pants up! So cut your elastic this way: measure your waist and subtract an inch or two (depending on how stretchy your elastic is).

For the waistband, I folded the serged edge under and then folded to the fold line shown on the pattern. I then topstitched with a straight stitch around and, because this fabric is so plush and I wanted to be very sure it was sewn down permanently, I also stitched with a zigzag stitch over the folded edge after I'd inserted the elastic. This is a very comfortable waist--no pinching or sagging.

For the hems, I just folded under the serged edge and topstitched it down. Easy peasy.

Cost:
Fabric: $0 (leftovers from another project)
Elastic: $1.37 (but only used some of the package)
Pattern: $1.99
Thread: $0 (leftovers from another project)
Total: $ 2.30